Fishing trawlers sail near Myeik in Tanintharyi Division. Pic: Aung Tun Win

A SENIOR member of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation has warned that Myanmar’s marine resources are on the verge of being overexploited by local fishermen.

“The maximum sustainable yield of Myanmar’s waters is about 1.1 million tonnes annually but our current annual catch from the sea is about 1.4 million tonnes,” said U Han Tun, the vice chairman of the federation.

He was speaking at the first annual meeting of the Myanmar Trawlers Association, which was held at the headquarters of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation in Insein township, Yangon, on July 30. He said the marine fisheries sector has been gradually expanding since commercial marine fishing was introduced to Myanmar in 1957.

According to figures from the Fisheries Department, the hourly catch from Myanmar waters was about 96.12 kilograms in 1996.

However, a survey conducted by the Southeast Asia Fisheries Development Centre from February 11 to March 11 this year found that the haul was down to 85.92kg an hour.

“The decrease in the rate of the catch in Myanmar is not much but we need to be careful and keep an eye on it,” U Han Tun said.

He urged owners of fishing trawlers to follow regulations set by the Fisheries Department to promote the sustainability of fisheries resources.

“We need to manage marine resources so they will not be destroyed,” he said.
At the meeting, the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Brigadier General Maung Maung Thein, also said trawler owners needed to follow regulations.

“Fishermen need to follow rules that ban fishing at certain times of the year and in certain areas, and they need to avoid using banned methods to catch fish,” he said.

He was referring to illegal practices such as using poison, explosives and electric shocks to catch fish.